****A small corner at the lawn outside****
"Shhhh... Stop Anaya. Stop it. Why are you crying? How unhappy are you to see me to cry like this? Do you really have to welcome me with these tears? Come on I was expecting some flower garlands or some chocolates but here you are wetting my expensive shirt. Jeez, I just bought it today...." Rudra tried to cheer her up by cracking some lame jokes while she was still hugging him and letting out all her pent up emotions. He has been trying to calm her down for the last five minutes now with his lame jokes.
Anaya suddenly let out a chuckle. She didn't know herself whether she was laughing or crying anymore. This idiot always managed to make her laugh in such serious situation.
After confirming that she was not crying anymore, he broke the hug and patted her head. "It's been a while since I saw you quacking like this ducky but hands down you still sound as bad as before." Rudra teased again.
"You, piggy...How dare you write ducky on that cake of mine. My hard-earned impression is gone just because of you" Anaya snarled. "Just you wait till I tell everyone that their Mr. handsome is actually a Mr. Piggy" she crossed her arms and harrumphed.
"Hey!! I object!! You can't do that... You got one year to carve your image." Rudra whined.
"Stop me if you can" Anaya stuck out her tongue and teased him.
Seeing her calming down and messing with him, he let out a silent sigh of relief and raised his hands to wipe the tears off her face. "Why are you trying to scare away my guests by your horrible look huh? How unhappy were you to see me that you started crying as soon as you saw me" he complained in an unhappy voice.
"These were the tears of happiness you dumbo." she smacked his hands which were almost done wiping away her tears.
"Yes, and I am the president of this country" he mocked her. I know you better than you think ducky. That husband of yours is certainly not taking proper care of you. He's present here today, isn't he? I will kick his ass for allowing you to cry like this" he gritted his teeth. He had never seen Anaya cry this miserably since that incident and this alone was enough to flare up his rage.
He was about to turn around to confront Dheer but was stopped by Anaya.
"Stop it Rudra. It's not his fault" Anaya said in a gentle but pressing tone.
"No, he has to answer me. How dare he let his wife cry like this. Don't save your husband now. I have the right to kick his ass if he ever mistreats you in any way. This isn't a personal issue anymore if you cry in front of everyone like this. Or you want to imply that I have no right over your matters anymore?" Rudra said in a stern voice. He was boiling with anger.
"Of course you have the right. But.." Anaya began.
"But what? Rudra cut her sentence midway.
Anaya felt a headache was coming. These best friends of hers were already protective of her but after that incident, they leveled up in their protection even more. She knew that he will certainly beat up Dheer if she let him go now. She had no option to tell him everything.
It was as if a volcano erupted inside Rudra when he heard all this. "All the more reason to beat the hell out of him. How dare he do all this to you? He could have just said no for the marriage." He lashed out.
"Hey, Hey, calm down Rudy. It was not his fault. He had no other option at that time. And he really didn't hurt me" She stopped and hold Rudra tightly afraid he'll go after Dheer.
Seeing the worry on her face Rudra, took a deep breath to calm himself down. He didn't want to make her worry or sad in any way, especially now that she had just cried her eyes out. Besides, it was her birthday today and he wanted her to enjoy her day. He left punishing Dheer to later, and took some more deep breathes and smiled at her, a sign that he had calmed down.
Anaya let out a sigh of relief and pouted, "Okay, now don't dwell on this. See I have stopped crying. Now let's go and enjoy your welcome party."
Rudra flicked her forehead and said, "It's your birthday party dumbo and I am just your birthday present this year. So??? You didn't tell me, do you like the surprise?"